Palestinian SodaStream employees return to work in factory following BDS scandal

After the factory moved out of the West Bank as a result of the BDS fight against SodaStream, the company’s Palestinian employees were forced to say goodbye to their friends and their jobs as their Israeli work-entrance permits expired. Yesterday, 30 of the employees’ permits were renewed.

At the end of a long bureaucratic battle yesterday (Sunday), which lasted for more than a year, 30 Palestinian employees from the West Bank returned to their jobs at the SodaStream factory near Rahat. For a short moment at a factory in the Negev Desert, as if part of an alternative reality, an old dream of life together in peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians seems possible.

Three years ago, after being the focus of constant attacks by the BDS movement, the successful SodaStream factory moved from Mishor Adumim, located over the Green Line, to Rahat, which is in the Negev Desert.

The move severely hurt the Palestinian employees, who needed special permits in order to enter into Israel for work. When their permits expired, they were forced to say goodbye to their Jewish friends and from their livelihood. Recently, their work permits were renewed and yesterday, the first 30 Palestinian employees returned to their jobs.